The Professor

Professor Gerald sat in the dead silence of the hall as his students took their test. Somehow not even the scratching of pencils on paper managed to reach his ears. He couldn't hear the sniffling of paranoid students whose minds were blanking on their answers. He couldn't hear the sighs as the realization that students dreams were failing before their eyes. The hall was massive, and the few students who remained at the end of the testing period were seated in the back seats. Gerald imagined that this fact wasn't a coincidence. 

There was a dull thud that came from the hallway, similar to the sounds of a  man walking by, but much heavier and slower. The students hardly seemed to take notice of it, but it shot like thunder through Gerald's ears in the deafening silence. His eyes were drawn to the door as the thuds grew closer and louder. His heart began to race, pounding against his chest, and sweat poured out of his forehead in a rush. He knew what was in the hall. He didn't want to know, but he did. It was incredibly poor timing. He wished his students were finished. In a few moments, they would be caught in the crossfire.

Gerald stood up abruptly, knocking the pens and papers on his desk haphazardly to the ground, drawing his students attention. He couldn't take his eyes away from the door, nor open his mouth to warn his students of what was coming. His body stood rigid, every muscle tensing in preparation.

In only a brief moment, the door exploded inward, large planks and tiny splinters shooting through the hall like shrapnel from a shotgun. A hulking beast of a man crouched through the doorway, his fist still extended from punching his way in, as the few remaining students began to scream. The man was looking for something - or someone - but his eyes appeared to be failing him, for they were dull and lifeless. It was likely for this reason that he had broken through the door, rather than attempt to find the handle, which for his large size was placed at an awkward angle. 

Gerald's body exploded into action, his legs pushing hard against the floor to throw him forward through the debris of the door towards the man. His arm pulled back as he soared, and ripped forward just as the man turned to face him, his fist making contact with the bridge of the man's nose between his eyes. The blow rippled through the man's skin, his muscles taking the impact and dispersing it through his face. Before Gerald's feet even touched the ground, the man's hand wrapped around his face and suspended him in the air. The students had fallen silent, scared and shocked by what was happening front of them. That only lasted for a moment, because in the next instant, Gerald had slammed into the wall behind them, thrown by the strange man. 

"Professor!" they exclaimed. "What's happening? Who is this man? Why are you fighting him?"

Gerald pushed himself back onto his feet, shaking the dust from the broken wall off of his back. "Get out," he rasped. "Just run. If you make it out, I promise you'll all pass. Now go."

There was little hesitation to follow his instructions.